1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a beverage container, and more particularly, to a beverage container having an internally submerged straw, an external sucking straw and a flexible tube connecting these, which has a structure capable of keeping the end portion of the sucking straw clean and allowing a beverage contained in the beverage container to be drawn out with ease.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the beverage container has a closed receiving space for containing any one of various beverages. Generally, the beverage container is made of metal, paper, resin, or the like. A sealable drinking opening is formed at a predetermined position of the beverage container.
After the drinking opening is opened, the user can drink the beverage by contacting the drinking opening with his lips or by sucking the beverage through a separate straw inserted into the drinking opening. In the ways of drinking a beverage as described above, there is a disadvantage in that the beverage may be spilt undesirably or the user must carry a straw inconveniently.
This problem has been solved by Korean Patent No. 210109 entitled "Beverage container with self-contained straw", filed on Aug. 28, 1996 and issued on Apr. 23, 1999 to the applicant of the present invention. The beverage container disclosed in the patent has a straw assembly including a submerged straw, a sucking straw, and a flexible tube, instead of the drinking opening, and the user can drink the beverage conveniently with the straw assembly. Namely, in the beverage container disclosed in the patent, an orifice is provided at a portion of the top side of the container, and the submerged straw is installed within the container to extend from the orifice. The orifice is sealed with a thin foil such as an aluminum. The flexible tube is hermetically installed on the sealed orifice, and the sucking straw is connected to the flexible tube so that the sucking straw can penetrate the thin foil when the sucking straw is elected vertically and is pressed downward.
However, the disadvantage of the beverage container disclosed in the patent is that the sucking straw may become unhygienic since the sucking straw is exposed to the outside of the container, and, therefore, contaminants such as dust or foreign materials may adhere to the sucking straw. Further, another disadvantage of the patent is that it is difficult to continuously suck the beverage because of the pressure difference between atmosphere and the inside of the container. Furthermore, since the sucking straw is not completely fixed to the beverage container, the sealed portion between the flexible tube and the container may be damaged due to careless handling during the circulation of the beverage container.